Scenes from Court Life

or the whipping boy and his prince

September 30–October 22, 2016

By Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Mark Wing-Davey
Commissioned by Yale Rep

University Theatre, 222 York Street

About

History, remixed. In 17th-century Great Britain, the Stuarts—Charles I and Charles II—defend their divine rights, with the help of a whipping boy. In our own time, Jeb and George W. Bush play hardball—both politics and tennis—battling for power, as siblings and statesmen. By turns intimate and epic, Sarah Ruhl’s astonishing new play reveals the cost of dynastic privilege.

Scenes from Court Life is the recipient of a 2016 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

The Artists

Creative Team

"'We elect a king for four years.' So said William Seward, Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of State. I found myself meditating on dynastic succession and democracy while the primary season heated up. I’m thrilled to be back at Yale Rep with Mark Wing-Davey and his epic imagination, during a season in which our democracy seems like just as wild an experiment as our theatres."

"I'm pleased to be back at Yale Rep for the third time, and to be continuing my long association with Sarah and her distinctive and provocative voice. Scenes from Court Life has emerged as a fantastical, very funny, and very touching new play."